HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. —
An MQ-9 Reaper circles above the Melrose Air Power Vary in New Mexico, surveying the realm beneath because it prepares to land on a mud strip. On the bottom the first Particular Operations Mission Sustainment Workforce (SOMST) secures the touchdown zone, able to refuel and rearm the plane.
Greater than 1,100 miles away, at Hurlburt Area, Florida, an MQ-9 pilot and sensor operator management the remotely piloted plane from a floor management station.
The sixty fifth Particular Operations Squadron hosted Train Reaper Castillo Nov. 4 to Dec. 18, 2024 to sharpen mission-essential duties and develop MQ-9 Agile Fight Employment (ACE) capabilities. The objective: create a lighter, leaner and extra agile drive.
The train validated the MQ-9’s skill to conduct key operations in austere environments, together with dirt-strip landings, refueling, rearming and fast relaunch.
“Sooner or later struggle, we assess we are going to not be capable to rely solely on the primary working bases which have continued,” mentioned the first SOMST flight commander. “Working in austere environments anytime, anyplace and anyplace is crucial. It allows commanders to have choices – one thing critically wanted in particular operations forces.”
Sometimes, the MQ-9 requires a paved runway with a bunch of maintainers and in depth help capabilities. Nonetheless, throughout the train a lightweight SOMST footprint on an austere grime airfield offered all essential capabilities to help mission execution.
“If particular operations MSTs can allow mission era on the ahead fringe of the battlefield, it could actually improve the lethality, vary, and total functionality of the plane for strategic and tactical nationwide pursuits,” the flight commander mentioned.
The MQ-9 Reaper is a flexible and exact intelligence, surveillance and strike platform and its adaptability and vary of capabilities make it an asset for contemporary navy operations.
These capabilities align with ACE, a technique centered on enhancing flexibility and resilience by dispersing forces throughout a number of, typically austere, places. With its skill to function in distant environments and adapt to quickly altering mission necessities, the MQ-9 performs a task in supporting ACE’s emphasis on decentralized operations and fast deployment.
“The MQ-9 is extraordinarily related in in the present day’s struggle and shall be sooner or later as effectively,” mentioned a sixty fifth SOS MQ-9 evaluator pilot and train mission commander. “It permits us to go locations and do issues that we can not danger sending manned plane – equivalent to high-threat environments.”
The train builds on the arduous work of the sixty fifth SOS’s sister squadrons over the previous few years and can present vital knowledge and classes discovered for the subsequent squadron to push the ideas even additional, mentioned Lt. Col. Kurtis Paul, sixty fifth SOS commander.
“On its floor, Reaper Castillo 24 is an train created and executed by the sixty fifth SOS. However in actuality, it’s one other step in Air Power Particular Operations Command’s efforts to push MQ-9 operations past typical means,” Paul added. “It introduced collectively many members from a number of AFSOC wings and it’s humbling to have the Fortunate Dicers’ stamp on this iteration – this was really a win for all of AFSOC remotely piloted plane and the place we’re headed sooner or later.”
As the way forward for Air Power operations adapt to rising applied sciences and evolving threats, the forward-thinking strategy of those groups is essential to unlocking the complete potential of the MQ-9.
“We have now to interrupt out of the mindset that we want an enormous, paved runway with co-located launch and restoration aircrews,” the mission commander added. “If we will free ourselves from the normal mindset, it makes MQ-9 fight attain almost limitless.”
By Senior Airman Deanna Muir, 1st Particular Operations Wing
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